Photo: Juan Manuel Blanco / EFE
By: EFE Posted Mar 21, 2023, 18:03 pm EDT
TAPACHULA. Mexico – Thousands of undocumented immigrants arrived this Tuesday at the offices of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Tapachula, on the southern border of Mexicoto request a permit that allows them to travel by plane to the Mexican capital or to a state bordering the United States to Being able to appear at the appointments obtained for their cases before the US immigration authorities.
The immigrants affirmed that they are using the CBP One application, from the US Customs and Border Protection Office, to obtain a migration application after the announcement of the United States last January to welcome 30,000 monthly migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua , Haiti and Cuba.
Gustavo Fernández is a migrant from Venezuela who arrived at the Tapachula immigration regularization offices and lined up with nearly 3,000 people. This migrant was engaged in banking activities in Venezuela, but he left the country for personal reasons and is now looking for a job with higher income to help his family.
“This is new for me, I arrived in Tapachula, the first thing they told us was that there was a new application and a new opportunity not to go by land, where they suffered the most,” explained Fernández, already with his CBP One appointment in hand.
The migrants who have arrived at the southern border of Mexico denounced the slowness of the migration procedures.
With this new opportunity, many migrants assured that they will stop leaving by land and get away from dangers to travel safely.
“We are doing the process for a permit to the border or to Mexico City and to be able to advance a little more by air to make it easier for us since we have many days stranded,” Fernández said.
According to this migrant, Last Friday his compatriots carried out this process and managed to leave by plane to Mexico City or to states bordering the US.
Rogelio is an immigrant from Cuba who also went to the migration offices on Tuesday, and He acknowledged that in Mexico they are being given permits.
“Thanks to this program, you can circulate in Mexico and you can reach the border, I don’t want to go to the United States, I want to stay in this country, because everything is calm here,” he said.
Some migrants put up metal fences to try to bring order and avoid disorganization, but others refused to carry out the process, so around 11:00 am local time (17:00 GMT), the INM staff suspended the service.
Mexico is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 and, according to data provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the migratory flow increased by 8% in Mexican territory.
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